johb prible. then a look at virginia politics. and virginia democratic party chairman. host: president obama and gov. christie worked together yesterday. several articles this morning about political partisanship as we go through this morning's newspapers on the "washington journal." which candidate or party do you think is best suited to reach across the aisle and work with the other side? for democrats -- for republicans --

independents -- there are social media ways to contact us as well. you can make a comment on our facebook page. that is up all day. or you can send us an e-mail. here is "usa today" this morning. their lead editorial --

that is "usa today" lead editorial this morning. a former democratic gov. of michigan writes this in "politico."

of our first call up on this question of which candidate can best reach across the title comes from pittsburgh. good morning. caller: good morning. looking at yesterday, i believe president obama is a person i feel will work across the aisle. he has put silly politics aside and is looking at what needs to be done.

he has worked at that very quickly and in his campaign. mitt romney it is still out there campaigning put them on a show. he acts like his supporters were donating. i feel like he will not work across the aisle for the whole united states of america. he has a vision of the 1% and is a firm believer that the 1% will take care of everything else. he does not believe in government. he does not believe in big government. host: another article in "politico" --

next call comes from mississippi on a republican line. what do you think? caller: i think governor romney would reach across the aisle. president obama definitely has not ever reached across the

aisle. he pushed his obamacare through without any thought of what the people of america wanted. he is limiting health care for the older people. he is trying to pretend he really cares about people by going to these flooded areas, and that is not going to wipe out his record of working against the people of america. host: on our independent line, gabriel. caller: i think that overall, the party that would be most willing to compromise and come to a situation no room and discuss the politics that we need to be discussing past to be

the democratic party. there are a lot of things that i do not support about the democrats and the republicans. i think overall that in order to get the things done that we need to have done, there must be a balance, there must be an approach to handle and organize our priorities correctly. i think the democrats are going to be the best representation of it. i was undecided. seeing what happened and the leadership and the capability of the president, it really has transformed what i think he is going to continue to do over the next four years. people might say most individuals are waiting to vote. i have made my vote largely based on his reaction for the

american people in new jersey. seeing chris christie not afraid to take that approach, saying that the president was there for him when he needed it as well. host: we will be looking at the state of virginia a little later in the program today. a story in the "usa today" this morning --

again, this is an "usa today"

this morning. they also have this time clock here in the newspaper as well. november 7, the day after the election. they will have to begin negotiations with congressional leaders on how to avert. tax hikes and spending cuts that neither party supports in full. december 31, almost every tax cut enacted since 2001 will expire. $109 billion across-the-board spending cut begin taking effect. half of the cuts come from national defense. day.ry 20 is a inauguratioinaun mid february, the treasury department estimates another raise in the current $16.40

trillion debt limit will be needed requiring a vote in congress. march 27, the current funding for the federal government runs out threatening a shutdown. the next call on who is best to reach across the aisle comes from providence, rhode island, where john is a democrat. caller: unfortunately, my party as much as they have been talking about the republicans, my party has been more and more taken over by the extremist fringe. you have to look at their resume to see what they have done in the past. mitt romney had to work with the other side. obama really sold us out in the last four years. host: some tweets we have been

getting on this question include -- yesterday in new jersey, the president spoke about gov. christie. >> obviously, this is a federal,

state, and local effort. the first thing i want to do is think everybody who has been involved and the entire rescue and recovery process. at the top of my list i have to say gov. christie throughout this process has been responsive, aggressive in making sure the state got out in front of this incredible storm, and i think the people of new jersey recognize that he has put his heart and soul in making sure the people of new jersey bounce back stronger than before. i want to thank him for his extraordinary leadership and partnership. host: a couple of facebook comments -- next call on our republican line

comes from virginia. which candidate do you think is best equipped to reach across the aisle? caller: definitely governor romney. he has already proven he can do that with his track record as governor in massachusetts. president obama has not done that while he has been president. he did not have a resume going in as president so we really need a change in washington. host: are independent line, what do you think? caller: i do not think either one of them is a winner. going back the last six months, whoever gets elected, 47% of the population is not going to like him.

it is going to be the same thing. it is going to be gridlock from now on because there is so much hate and madness. host: how do you get beyond it? caller: if we had the answer to that question, me and you could go get elected. i hate to say it but here we are. we are not going to get past the it. we are just going to suffer through it and keep on. it was the same thing it was yesterday. it was this way 100 years ago. go back and read history. host: that said, has it been successful to have this partisan conflict for this country? caller: is an formative. as long as people are educating

themselves. you hear a lot of rhetoric from people. it i don't have to tell you this. there is a lot of partisan talk every once in a while but we are locked in. the population that vote for these people -- i am in a red state so it does not matter who i vote for. i am going to vote for ron paul. it is a hassle and everybody is going to see it. having said that, those same people are going to go back to washington and at the same people who voted them in are going to be screaming and hollering.

i am going to do it my way, and then nobody is going to change. host: as we just showed you a picture on the front page of " the new york times," in new jersey where some of the storm damage at the end. joining us on a line is representative john runyan, a republican from new jersey. representative, can you tell us about some of the damage in your district in new jersey? guest: thank you for having me on. i had the opportunity yesterday to walk around on the ground. i know the president and gov. christie saw from the air. especially to go north, i am this afternoon to see the devastation.

you are talking about homes being pushed off the beach and homes collapsed. i have spoke to several people that, you know, first responders who have served time overseas and with hurricane katrina down in new orleans, and they say it does not look much different. walking around and having it be dead silent and hearing the hissing of natural gas coming out of the ground, we are still as of yesterday in search and rescue mode to be sure everyone is out of their house and safe before they allow people to come back. it is a very frustrating time. i can tell you what he was

talking about on the earlier call, i had the opportunity last night to talk to some people in the shelters and they are amazed at the amount of people willing to help, total strangers. random citizens donating goods to try to help their fellow man. it is unfortunate it takes a tragic event like this to bring the best out of people. host: what is the best way the federal government can help your district? guest: first of all, the president has been doing everything he needed to do along with the governor in giving the governor of the tools that we need here in new jersey to get this process started. it is going to be a multi-year process to get us headed back in

the right direction. it is that catastrophic of an event and it is not going to be easy. we have it on the way. you have seen it. we are working together to make sure if it is taking care of. it is not a partisan issue. it is us coming together as citizens of new jersey and this great nation to really stand up for each other. you can see it across the board. it is very refreshing and comforting to see that happen. host: where did you ride out the storm? guest: i rode out the storm in my home. i live closer to the delaware river so i am closer to philadelphia than the jersey shore. we got hit a little less but we got a lot of the same power

outages because of the high winds. host: congressman john runyan joining us, thank you for your time this morning. back to your calls. i want to show you this first from "the wall street journal" earlier this month. here is the poll itself. for the first time according to this poll switched in september where more people want a one- party government rather than a

two-party government. atlanta, georgiea, good morning. caller: can you hear me? excellent. in the wake of this storm that has blown through, i think we have seen a glimpse of authentic blurring of party lines by gov. christie. the ability to remove party line politics set aside to focus on the needs of the people in his state i think is what this nation should be about. also, the president's leadership has been remarkable.

i would definitely tip my head to both. for reaching across the aisle, i think president obama would do a better job of that. mitt romney has touted his gubernatorial experience. if we really dig deep, i think we will uncover his record which clearly indicates that he did not have great favorability when he left. it was below 40%. there were countless the toes issued by him. i also believe that in my research i think the state of massachusetts ranked 48th for jobs being lost which is a fundamental issue that we are trying to resolve right now. so i believe that the sincerity

to be able to partner together would be more so by president obama even with his jobs bill out there in congress that we do not hear about too much. i think that could have put this nation further ahead even looking at corporations holding funds where employees could be working right now. i do not know if it is for the ownership of these corporations to determine -- host: thank you for your comment this morning. gov. christie also spoke yesterday from new jersey. >> the challenge now is to get back to normalcy. we need to be sure to get power restored as quickly as possible. hospitals are taken care of and we get kids back to school. i discussed this issue today with the president and am pleased to report that he has

sprung into action immediately to help us get those things while we were in the car riding together. i want to thank him for that. this is our sixth conversation since the weekend. it has been a great working relationship to make sure we are doing the jobs that the people elected us to do. i cannot think the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for the people in our state. i was able to witness it today personally. host: here is "the new york post" this morning. and this is from "politico" --

that is a little bit from "politico." this is from "the washington times" this morning.

here is a little bit from governor romney. >> we are going to do something that has been spoken about in campaign after campaign but not done. i am going to work across the aisle and work with democrats. we have to find a way to work

with people from the opposition party. we can come together. host: i want to show you two quick headlines. president obama and gov. christie are toning things down a little bit ahead of the election because of hurricane sandy. that was in florida yesterday. c-span cover that event. some of the surrogates in the second tier members of the ticket are still out there campaigning. howard, you are on the "washington journal." which candidate can best reach across the aisle in your view? caller: good morning. i think the republicans when we are in trouble.

i was proud of eisenhower when he sent troops to little rock to help the people there who were down. i see the governor of new jersey return to his normal rights of helping his people with the help of the president. the president was for getting about the people and was just trying to make sure he was a one-time president then the. all they want to do is help themselves. i think the republicans will reach across the line when they are really in trouble. that is my opinion. host: thank you for calling in this morning. a couple of facebook comments --

well, new york, too, was hit very hard. here is the front page of "the daily news." it is a full page. they explained their office got washed out down the battery of lower manhattan. one of the representatives from manhattan and queens is carolyn maloney. the congresswoman is a democrat from new york.

congresswoman, tell us what happened to your district and what kind of shape it is in. guest: it has been absolutely devastating to new york and my district and the region as a whole. a combination of wind and flooding caused the largest storm-related outage. they have restored power to 2000. throughout new york, roughly 100,000 people in brooklyn and in queens have no power but they are working hard them that we have the worst conditions ever in the history of the new york subway system. the tunnels are underwater. the response from the federal government has been extraordinary from the president and all of his secretaries. they are sending down generators

to help remove the salt water from the subway system's so we can ascertain the damage and start to restore service. they have partial service throughout the city bought the tunnels under the east river connecting manhattan and brooklyn and queens are still flooded. new york city took a tremendous hit from the storm. we have over 24 people dead out of an estimated 61 nationwide. two of the largest hospitals in our city were evacuate. i toured nyu medical yesterday. they were talking about during the dark of the night in the storm they really saw courageous work on behalf of the nurses and others of the the hospital.

they were carrying newborns out. fema has been coordinating the major disaster relief the. there have been phone calls every day for the new york delegation about how they are responding. there is a great need for food and water in lower manhattan. when you go below 37 street, it is a total blackout. there are no traffic lights or phones. no way to communicate. when you are down there you can not send an e-mail or make a phone call. people are helping each other and directing traffic. the small businesses are afraid that some of them will go out of business because they operate on a fragile business line. their produce, they're derry,

their stock in restaurants and small stores, it is just going bad. the food is going bad. they are losing their total revenue. we have been talking about coming in and setting up a satellite office for bridge loans and other ways to help these small businesses. fema and others are coming in. the national guard is coming in to some areas. particularly seniors in these high rises where there are elevators. so, all in all, it is the wrost storm in the history of our great city. people are united and determined. all the personnel from federal workers to the city workers, the first responders.

we have had blasts and fires. my colleague lost his home and was totally burned to the ground them back we're doing the best we can. i believe the president toward new jersey yesterday -- toured new jersey yesterday. host: is the spirit that you described earlier reminiscent of 9/11? guest: it reminded me quite a bit of 9/11. governor cuomo and mayor bloomberg are doing a great job with everyone. it is the same public spirit of everyone doing what they can to help someone else. earlier in the storm there was a police officer running down the street. i thought he was looking for a

criminal. he was looking for a demented person who was missing. people are out looking for children or looking for people with alzheimer's, trying to find them. anyone whonk i know has not moved to another family in with them. it is reminiscent of this. i would say or the courage -- of the spirit or the courage when our backs are up against the wall. host: what action would you like to see the congress take, if any? guest: i believe there will be certainly the request.

the new york delegation is circulating a letter i initiated for emergency help and support to the mta to get the life blood of our city moving again. we cannot travel. it is a total traffic log jam without the subway system. buses have been restored but it is a tremendous problem. we need to get our subway system back up and running. the governor estimates a $6 billion loss in revenue. i am sure there will be requests for emergency aid in response. janet napolitano has been available. the head of fema has been on a

conference call every single day on the emergency response. ray lahood has been coordinating the response for the transportation system. i am sure there will be requests for infrastructure, for people. it is a disaster beyond belief. there has to be a commission to look at ways we can try to prevent this in the future. in new york, a lot of infrastructure was in the basements of buildings. in hospitals, they have these huge electrical systems and phone systems in the basement. it is all destroyed with salt water. in nyu medical, the smell was almost unbelievable. the combination of this type of electric communication systems

rotting. everywhere you see on a lower east side, the palms are working trying to push water out. fema and the national guard and the federal government are moving to hundred generators to manhattan -- moving to hundred generators to manhattan to help back up the pump system to get water out of our communications network. we have over 700 miles of subway system that needs to be inspected after you remove the water and begin the repair of it. there has to be a rethinking of how we build our buildings in the future. we cannot have these systems on the ground floor. they have to be on higher

floors. there have to be other ways in which we fortify ourselves. host: representative carolyn maloney, we appreciate your time this morning on the "washington journal." thank you again. guest: thank you so much for your concern and covering this important response to save lives and rebuild. host: from "usa today" this morning -- another headline read about that -- -- right above that -- pam in the troy, mich., on our independence -- in detroit, michigan, on our independent line, good morning. caller: president obama tried

to work with them. for the health care bill, it is across the aisle because it is from a heritage foundation and is a republican idea. then they turn around and voted against it. $4 trillion trying to help with the deficit, and then john boehner, and they turn around and stop that. they stopped the transportation bill. he has tried time and time again with norquist and all these pledges that they made. that tea party would not work with president obama. i hope when he is reelected, he will not be up for reelection again and they will not be able to work with him. host: here are some more tweets

--

a couple of e-mails -- that is mike from california. nancy from texas says -- front page of "the financial times" has the picture that a lot of folks have in their papers this morning. al in indiana on are democrats' line, good morning. caller: good morning. i believe that you can add to that question and put on a few

more words. you look at who the president had to reach across the aisle to. i go back to one of president obama's addresses to congress when congressman wilson from california shouted out in front of a live audience on tv, "you lie." i think that is indicative of where this republican party is. the entire country is being held hostage because of the republican party's refusal to evolve. demographically, the republican party does not pay respect to women, to minorities, and they have no national candidates for office as a result of that. they are worried about all things vagina and ridiculous things like that. host: darlene on a republican

line. what is your opinion? caller: i want to tell you i used to be a democrat. 14idn't like it when those democrats left town, got paid, and weren't there to vote. presidenthink the reaches out across the table in any shape or form. he does things behind closed doors. i am proud to be republican now and i am voting for mitt romney. host: the next call is from silver spring, mdaryland. caller: good morning. this is really simple. to work across the aisle you need a willing partner. republicans have been anything

but a partner with this president. from day one they have said they will bring this president down. they have been willing to sabotage our economy. that is exactly what they have done. if you want to talk about mitt romney, he vetoed more than 800 bills that democrats presented to him. when he left office, 35% approval rating. he could not have been reelected again in massachusetts which is why he started running for president. that is not working across the aisle. mitt romney is not working across the aisle. he will be beholden to the tea party and radicals in congress which will not get anything done if the radicals in congress are going to be writing the bills that he wants to sign.

the answer is very straightforward. voters should punish republicans for refusing to compromise which is what they have done for four years straight. host: mitt romney has a commercial on the air about bipartisanship. here it is. >> we have to work on a collaborative basis. there are people that are really hurting today in this country. this deficit could crush future generations. republicans and democrats both loved america. we need to have leadership in washington to bring people together and get the job done. i could not care less if it is a republican or democrat. host: i want to show you some articles that are in the paper. this is from "the financial times."

this is in the "the wall street journal" this morning -- a new poll. wisconsin, 49% to 46%. in "the washington post," election costs continue to climb.

this from "the hill" newspaper -- beverly from north carolina on our democrats' line. who is best equipped to reach across the aisle? caller: of course, it is president obama. everything that the other guy said before you had a commercial is true. mitt romney is a joke. if the same republicans come back into congress and do the same things they have done before in the house particularly we only have two years to get rid of every one of them. i hope they all go.

god bless america. bye. host: three more articles and then we are going to switch topics. this is the lead story on "daily caller" this morning. two women say they were paid for sex. he is divorced and single. "washington times" -- this is senators mccain, graham, and ron johnson. they have five questions for the president. question number two --

question three -- question four -- and finally question five -- that again is an op-ed this morning and "the washington times." finally this about ballot initiatives in "the washington times." 176 initiatives on the ballot.

national flood insurance is our topic for the next segment. after that, we will turn to the battleground state of virginia as we have been doing all week and will be doing all week up to

the election. we will be right back. ♪ >> i regard medicare is not just a program but they promise. i got to see how medicare worked at the very young age. they paid in throughout their working life. we have to strengthen and extend its solvency. tommy thompson supports the program to replace traditional medicare with a voucher. if it does not keep up with costs, tough luck. it is out of your own pocket and a shifting costs to seniors. it is the wrong policy. >> medicare is going to go bankrupt in the year 2024. i do not want medicare to go bankrupt. i want to be sure seniors in

america and wisconsin are protected and only those under the age of 50 by the year 2000 will have a choice, not a voucher. i have never supported a voucher. i support a program for those individuals under 50 will have a choice. >> through the weekend, watch more debates. starting saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> let's get the album that documents the college family during the white house years --

coolidge family during the white house years. part of the family papers. several boxes of other documents. the photographs are heavy. the album should be in the back of the box. here it is. unfortunately, it is on black acidic paper. there is not much we can do about that because we do not want to change the nature of the album itself. it is starting to crack and some of these pages are separating. this is a photograph of a cow and coolidge the day before he became president -- of calvin coolidge the day before he became president. he did have the press along with him. he took one photograph with his

suit jacket on, and another one without the suit jacket on. >> more from the historical society this weekend as we look behind the scenes, saturday at noon eastern on c-span2, and sunday at 5:00 p.m. on c-span3. >> "washington journal" continues. host: we want to introduce you to john prible, the vice- president of the independent insurance agents and brokers of america. our topic is the national flood insurance. this article was in the "the wall street journal" yesterday. what is the responsibility divide when it comes to recovering from sandy? guest: that article and the

headline captures what is going on. any typical insurance event for and the hurricane, there is going to be damage caused by wind, fallen trees. there is going to be fires from natural gas lines. all those damages are going to be covered by your standard typical homeowner's insurance by the private market. you are going to contact your insurance company, and they are going to cover it with your limits and deductibles. any damage that is caused by flooding is going to be covered only if you had a flood insurance policy through the national flood insurance. that is a government program that covers flood losses. that ultimately will be picked

up by the policyholders in that program. there are really two pies that these losses will come from. the private insurance tab and the fema tab. so, there will be two tabs. host: what about a homeowner who does not participate in the federal program and does not have private flood insurance? guest: unfortunately, that person really is in a hard place right now. unfortunately, it is probably a lot of people in new jersey. there are about 260,000 people in new jersey that have flood insurance. host: out of the whole population. guest: out of the whole population. there are going to be a lot of people that do not have it.

host: is that on the private side? guest: those are policyholders of the national flood insurance. as you are correctly surmising, there will be a lot of consumers that do not have national flood insurance those citizens are not going to be covered for their flood losses that result from hurricane sandy. they will be covered from windstorm losses, trees, fires, typical homeowners' policies will cover those types of events, but not flood policies. these consumers, their only recourse is going to be fema disaster assistance. they will be eligible for grants, loans, these loans are typically very low interest rates, around 4%, that are meant

to help these consumers rebuild their properties, citizens to rebuild their properties. a prerequisite for taking these loans is that in the future path as soon as they take these loans they have to purchase flood insurance. so that this does not happen again. host: you represent mortgage brokers, insurance agents? guest: independent insurance acreages and brokers. host: is there a cost estimate? guest: we have not yet. the storm is such of a colossal wager that it will take awhile to get our arms around the total cost. the estimates i've seen so far put the damages anywhere from $5 billion to $20 billion anin damages. that's premature. we have been in contact with fema and they are focused 100%

on recovering and disaster assistance, helping people on the ground. they have not even begun to really put pen to paper and a calculator out to start adding up the cost. and so, these estimates are kind of from the 30,000 foot level, just really guesses that smart people are making, but we are not going to be able to really put an accurate price tag on this event for probably a couple weeks. host: 402 is the area code. we have divided our phone lines regionally if you would like to talk to john prible about the national flood insurance program.

according to national oceanic and atmospheric administration, the cost of this storm that hit the u.s. east coast, katrina is number one, by a longshot, $108 billion. that's a lot of hurricane damage. does the national flood insurance program as currently structured, does it work? guest: it does. it does help protect consumers from an uninsurable event in the private market. the program was created in 1968 and was created because the

private market could not accurately and suitably underwrite the insurance risks. what was happening was people were completely without flood insurance protection. so what was happening in the 1960's and 1950's was american citizens were being flooded and the only recourse they had was federal disaster assistance after the fact. the program was created to have people pay into a program and be prepared for a storm and flood event before happen. it certainly can use improvement. there are critics who say that is too subsidized by the federal government. there was a major loss signed this summer, the bigger waters and flood insurance reform act. it was designed to improve the program. it removes a lot of the subsidies that the government had put into the program.

the goal of this to make the program more actuarially sound and more like a private insurance plan. host: wall street journal this morning, their editorial -- that's the wall street journal. guest: if i could respond, i group is an independent insurance agents and brokers of

america. we like working with the private marketplace. we like working with our company partners. we would like to sell private flood insurance in the open market, but the simple fact is it does not exist. in the 1960's there was no private insurance but flood insurance. so this government program was created in order to fill that void. the national flood insurance program has not crowded out the private insurance market. private flood insurance market did not exist. so the flood insurance program was created to fill that void. there is an arrangement with the private insurance carriers called the write your own program, where the federal government underwrites and backs the flood insurance policies, but they are serviced by these private companies. this is done as a way to effectively and efficiently distribute the product.

it is really for the benefit of consumers. host: mr. prible, would -- if you live in a flood prone zone, and it has to be labeled as such, you have to buy flood insurance, correct? guest: yes, if you have a mortgage that is federally backed. essentially, if you have a mortgage. host: the app device through nfip or through a broker? guest: you can buy it through a broker. host: is it expensive? guest: it depends on where you live and what flood zone. i will give you a couple prices. the cheapest flood insurance policy out there runs you about $129 a year. $10 or $11 a month. that is if you are in a very low-risk area. host: not new orleans. guest: right.

your average premium runs about $600 a year. again, not terribly expensive. there are zones that are going to be more expensive. those will be the highest risk zones, those most likely to flood. it is a very fine line to walk. you want to keep the program affordable so that consumers purchase the policy and are protected, yet you also want to make sure the program is charging the accurate rates so it does not go bankrupt. so it's a delicate balance. again, the act that was signed into law this summer will end up raising some of the prices, but that is because policy makers here in washington had decided more important that the program be structural and financially sound and show it continues to

exist to protect consumers. host: if somebody had a house on the jersey shore and they wanted to buy flood insurance, would be expensive? guest: you would need to talk --- each individual needs to talk to their agent and broker. if you don't have one, go to entrusted the choice that, and fined one during that agent and broker would help you walk through the flood insurance application process and determination of what flood zone you are in. host: we have this tweet -- guest: yes, i know exactly what he's referring to. this happened in katrina. there was some uncertainty about what caused a particular structural damage. in katrina you had all lots of

houses and structures completely wiped off. the only thing left was a slab of concrete. and so, it was very difficult to determine whether the damage was caused by the wind associated with katrina or whether it was swept away by the storm surge. there was a lot of controversy about whether the damage was caused by wind or water. that's important. if it's caused by water, then the national flood insurance program picks up the tab. if wind, the private insurance market picks up that tab. this storm, i don't anticipate there being that much controversy surrounding this issue, partly because, based on the footage i have seen, there have not been the widespread slab properties at a total loss that katrina had. i think, in the storm we will have a better opportunity for

the adjusters to come out and they use a very scientific process looking at the storms, looking at the actual damage, looking at water levels, watermarks on the property. these adjusters will be able to determine whether the damage was caused by floods or by wind. at least that is my hope. host: what about when it comes to municipal damage, the new york subway system? is that york city, are they in short through private broker? guest: new york city, again, based on what i have read and what i understand, they anticipate -- they do not have flood insurance through the flood insurance program, but they anticipate asking the federal government for help in the form of grants - disaster grants, to help them cover the cost of recovery for those kind of transit programs.

host: would a city have private insurance as well? guest: yes, a city absolutely could purchase private insurance, municipalities to purchase private insurance. it likely will not cover flood insurance -- flood damages, i'm sorry. host: john prible is our guest, the vice president of his group. numbers are on the screen if you would like to participate in our conversation about the national flood insurance program. we will begin with frank in florida. caller: good morning. i have a couple questions. since i live in a flood zone and i am familiar with fema's insurance, it does not cover anything on the first floor except equipment. so the losses those people suffered in those one story homes probably will not be covered. so i would like to know -- and then there's a limit on the

amount of insurance you can get. so that kind of limits your liability. also, how are they going to do the homes that burned down where there is nothing left but a slab? host: thank you. guest: you are correct in that the contents of a structure in the basement are generally not covered by the flood insurance policy. but if first floor is actually covered. my experience in new jersey, i have a lot of family and friends that live on the tears the shore, and i spent a lot of summer is on vacation at seaside heights and it's terrible what happened up there, but my experience up there is that most of the properties up there don't have basements, because they're built in sandy soil where basements are not practical. so they will not have to worry -- saddam will not have to worry

about basement coverage being excluded. first floor contents absolutely will be covered by the flood insurance. you are correct to mention that there are content limits. there are actually limits for -- in a residential structure, the limit for the property damage is 250 to thousand dollars. that's as much as the national flood insurance program will pay. pour the contents, $100,000. it will cover $100,000 of claims. your second question about the burned down homes, i am not an adjuster, so i don't want to speak for individual properties. but i will make a broad speculation that if a home, if it is demonstrated that a home is burnt down three royal tour in a natural gas line, for example, that will likely be covered by the private insurance

market, since a typical homeowner policy covers fire damage. host: from the wall street journal yesterday morning -- guest: yes, that is something that is very concerning. i know the insurance industry as a whole is concerned. the numbers as a couple weeks ago, i just had a meeting with fema personnel, the most recent numbers, and i am rounding off a little, the program has the

ability to borrow up to $20.8 billion. the right now they have already borrowed approximately $18 billion. that was the result of hurricane will and hurricane katrina in 2004 and 2005. they have approximately $1 billion cash on hand, which adds up to what you mentioned with the wall street journal article, about $3.8 billion of cushion, of available cash in order to pay claims as a result of sandy. the question is, are the flood plains going to exceed $3.8 billion? if they do, fema will absolutely have to come back here to washington to ask congress in their lame-duck session to raise that borrowing limits beyond

20.8 billion. i mentioned earlier that fema has not even really begun to calculate the total cost of the event. so it will be a couple weeks before we know whether or not that will be required, the raising of the cap. i certainly hope the total losses are below $3.8 billion, but whether this event and all the footage i've seen, i think is certainly a strong possibility that it will exceed those losses. host: paul in clear field, pennsylvania, good morning. caller: good morning. and thank you for taking my call. i don't want to take away from the seriousness of the east coast. that has priority now. i live on the west branch of the susquehanna river in pennsylvania. there's a multibillion-dollar flood control about 3 miles from

me and it has been there since the 1960's or 1970's. i recently have been required to have flood insurance after 26 or so years of living in my house. i have two years ago on my mortgage. my mortgage company, which is staggering how hard it is to get anything out of them. insurance is expensive. it is hard to protest, if i'm using the right word, the findings, because the maps are outdated. it is costly to get that done. i'm at my wit's end on what to do about this. obviously, i'm going to have to pay it. the mortgage company is required me to have insurance, so they're getting it. it is to thousand dollars a year. that is almost my mortgage, to be honest with you. -- $2000.

host:? caller: that is only the flood part and it only covers the structure -- it does not cover the content of the house, excuse me. i someone understands that. but i don't know where to go, to be very honest with you. host: let's get a response. guest: first of all, i certainly sympathize. we're hearing from a lot of consumers that things like this are happening. i will say that the policy makers here in washington have been hearing it as well. i mention the the bigger water flood insurance act which passed this summer, there are some provisions in that new law that helped to expedite your appeals process. you mentioned that you are protesting - -hopefully, you are

appealing the flood maps that have come out and you are appealing that to fema. there are some new expedited procedures as a result of the new act that may help you. there's also some provisions that allow you, if you challenge these maps, and let's say for example that you hire engineers to come out, and in order to show that your elevation is higher than the flood map may show, there's actually now recruitment process and you can recoup some of the money that you used to pay for that engineer to come out and challenge that map so does not come out of pocket. paul, what i would encourage you to do, you can get on line at floodsmart.gov and look at that site and review the flood insurance program. they have some documents that show exactly what the new law changes. if all else fails, insurance

agents and brokers, we are here for you, we are here to advocate on your behalf. rehab an don't are insurance agent or broker, go to our web site and fined one and they will -- they may not be able to solve your particular problem, but they will certainly make every effort to help you. host: this e-mail -- guest: yes, they are very similar to a student loan or a mortgage is probably a better comparison. a typical scene alone duration is 30 years, like a 30-year mortgage. -- the typical fema loan duration. if you have $100,000 worth of damage, you may need the full 30

years to make the payments affordable for you, although you can take a shorter duration. these are generally low interest, around 4%. host: when you look at the division, is the federal government going to pay out more than private insurers for a disaster like this? if you could take it back to katrina or another one of the big storms? guest: the general rule of thumb is, if you talk about total losses of a storm, for example if there's $20 billion in losses as a result of sandy, the general rule of thumb is that insured losses count about 50% of that. generally it ends up being a split, where the private insurance market covers 50% of the damage and fema and the nfip, disaster assistance, covers the other 50%. host: we have been getting some tweets --

guest: well, i think the one that said the private insurance market can insure anything, given the right price, i think that is accurate. the private market can certainly ensure something. it just depends on the price. i suspect a private market in the 1960's decided that they needed to charge exceptionally high prices because the risk of flooding was really high.

and the prices they needed to charge were so high that they would price the consumer is out of purchasing the program. so, there is a fine line of charging the the right price but yet not pricing yourself out of the consumer market. the flood risk, unfortunately, you mentioned the storms, and all of them being since 2000, the list of the major storms, everyone of them was -- except for andrew, which was in 2000, up flood risks are massive and are only growing. part of that is construction along the coast, the number of residents that are within 15 miles of the coast, it is staggering. and so, the private flood insurance market just simply,

the affordability is not there. pe is, if we can remove some of the subsidies given through the program and slowly transition the prices to be more actuarially sound and to represent the true risk of those policies, if we can get a program to charge what risks are, then the private market may be able to step in and compete with a federal program. but there are no subsidies in the federal program, and the private market would come in and charged with the federal program is charging. again, i believe that maybe a little bit of wishful pinking, because the risk is really, really high in certain parts of the country. host: next call comes from mary in catonsville, maryland. caller: thank you for taking my

call. i've been a claims adjuster michael 30 years of working -- my whole 30 years of working. i know what's covered and what is not covered by private insurance. can you purchase a policy -- a flood policy, if you don't live in the flood zone? guest: yes, you can. if you do, your premiums are going to be significantly lower than those individuals that do live in a flood zone, because your risk is lower. if you're watching earlier, the number i gave, the cheapest flood insurance policy is right about $129 per year for your premiums. that is for that exact property that's not in a flood zone and has very little risk. you do have to be in a community that participates in the national flood insurance program. the communities have to do elect

to participate in the program. in order to participate, they have to undertake floodplain management in order to mitigate the risk of flood insurance. host: virginia, they city, michigan. -- bay city. did you get some effects of sandy? caller: no, but we have parental waves. we were affected, but not nearly as much as those folks on the water. john, does seem like a very nice young man. i have been around the block and sold real estate in our area many years. water is everywhere, being in michigan. i will tell you, this is clearly another example of socializing, privatizing the profits. people don't been at the end of

the day with this. they get stuck with the bill. win.ople don't the fema label will be stuck to their property forever. when they go to sell it, even if you are in an area that has not flooded in 100 years, but you happen to be in an area with a certain designation or perhaps there was a flawed one time anti mccain in to give relief, if you ,ake that money from sfema that labels your property, so good luck with resale. i feel bad for the guy who wants to retire in a couple years or is done with his mortgage in a couple years. it's a shame.

by the way, the banks are the insurance industry. the insurance industry is the banks. there's no difference. we have done away with any protections we had previously, years ago, that kept those entity separate. they don't exist anymore. it falls on the shoulders of the people, once again. for it to be viewed as anything -- why would people have a problem with obamacare? truthfully, here we are with flooding. to make it to anything other than that, it is unfortunate and it's a shame. people are being totally taken advantage of. host: john prible? guest: she mentioned socializing the debt and privatizing the profits. when it comes to the flood insurance programs, all the premiums that are paid into the program actually stay in the program. every year, typically, the nfl